At around 9AM on June 3, 2014, approximately 16 cops from the Vancouver Police Department raided a house in East Vancouver under the pretext of investigating six mischief charges related to graffiti tags dating from June, July, and October of 2013. The four residents of the house, and one guest, were removed one by one by police aiming pistols at them. One person inside the house looked out their bedroom window and saw a cop pointing his pistol at him.

The house targeted by the raid is comprised of radicals involved in Indigenous resistance as well as anarchist projects in the city (including myself, the editor of the Warrior Publications wordpress site).

For the 3rd year in a row anarchists held a Mayday rally in Vancouver, occupied Coast Salish territories. This time highlighting the urgency of the ant-pipelines struggle while celebratate the Unistoten resistance camp actively blockading 2 major LNG (Fracked Gas) pipeline projects (Kitimat (Chevron/Apache, fed by Pacific Trails Pipeline LNG Canada and the Enbridge pipeline.

The rally assembled at Victory Square, along with a large deployment of Public Safety Unit cops from the Vancouver police. As part of this deployment, the PSU also had two video surveillance operators filming and documenting the crowd. This strongly contrasted with the “official” organized labour Mayday celebration that occurred earlier in the day in East Vancouver, which saw a small police presence primarily focused on traffic control.

Dan Wallace, a Lekwektaich and Haida warrior, gave an inspiring speech on the need for boots on the ground , direct action and how he will and…

An explicitly anarchist assembly highlighting the urgency on stopping the pipelines and LNG fracking. Folks from Beat The Pipelines will share their ideas as well as others the chance to share their current projects, skills and analysis to further the fight . Also ways to counter and fight repression. Anybody is welcome to attend, but it will run on anarchist lines, which means no political parties, no talk about reform or participation with the state. For more info on this assembly model see: From Movement To Space: the anarchist open assemblies.

This provocation is intended to intervene in some of the current tensions around solidarity/support work as the current trajectories are counter-liberatory from my perspective. Special thanks to DS in Phoenix for convos that lead to this ‘zine and all those who provided comments/questions/disagreements. Don’t construe this as being for “white young middle class allies”, just for paid activists, non-profits, or as a friend said, “downwardly-mobile anarchists or students.” There are many so-called “allies” in the migrant rights struggle who support “comprehensive immigration reform” which furthers militarization of Indigenous lands.

In summer 2013 members of several ABC groups discussed the necessity of introducing an International Day for Anarchist Prisoners. Given there are already established dates for Political Prisoners Rights Day or Prison Justice Day, we found it important to emphasise the stories of our comrades as well. Many imprisoned anarchists will never be acknowledged as ‘political prisoners’ by formal human-rights organisations, because their sense of social justice is strictly limited to the capitalist laws which are designed to defend the State and prevent any real social change. At the same time, even within our individual communities, we know so little about the repression that exists in other countries, to say nothing of the names and cases involving many of our incarcerated comrades.

This is why we have decided to introduce an annual Week for Anarchist Prisoners on August 23-30. We chose August 23 as a starting point, because on that very day in 1927 the Italian-American anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in prison. They were convicted of murdering two men during an armed robbery at a shoe factory in South Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. Their arrest was a part of a bigger anti-radical campaign led by the American government. The State’s evidence against the two was almost totally non-existent and many people still today believe that they were punished for their strong anarchist beliefs. Given the nature and diversity of anarchist groups around the globe, we have proposed a week of common action rather than a single campaign on a specific day making easier for groups to be able to organise an event within a longer target period. Therefore, we call on everyone to spread the information about the Week for Anarchist Prisoners among other groups and communities and think about organising event(s) in your city or town. The events can vary from info-evenings, screenings and benefit concerts to solidarity and direct actions. Let your imagination run free.

After a short period of inactivity, pugetsoundanarchists.org is active once again. The site has served as an open space for discussion, dialog, and reference over the years. It is meant to function as a space that is open to all tendencies of anarchism in the Puget Sound area. The site is in no way the meeting point or result of one group but rather a forum and tool for anarchists of all stripes to engage with one another.

Although, the space is online, over the years, it has proven to be a force for regional anarchists as a place where anarchists can see parts of the local struggle and activity reflected through a neutral medium.

In light of the Seattle Federal Grand Jury and its subsequent intimidation, it is necessary to continue to act and reflect as anarchists regardless of the consequences of repression. This site is just another simple tool that can be used by comrades and potential comrades to carry out their practice against the State and Capital and in solidarity with those in exile, prison, or otherwise resisting the hands of the State.

I want to begin this letter with a huge hug for all the compxs who are on the run, all those who are fighting for their liberty, and all those who are locked up and for whom this world of domination is trying to quell their rage. There is no cell, no wall, no authority to whom I give enough power to quiet my rage and my desire for liberty. I’ve had these feelings since I was a little one and now, in my heart and my head, they are stronger than ever, and there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think of you guys, my friends. I can imagine, and they tell me as well, that the situation outside is very precarious. This doesn’t surprise me, as us deciding to be in conflict comes with repression. It isn’t simple, it isn’t easy, and there are many emotions that are all mixed up, but the specific emotion that we all have in common is our force; individually and collectively. No-one can cage this feeling—neither a prison nor a border. Friends, I am thinking of you all with much love, especially Marc, who is locked up in a prison in Kingston, and I’m thinking of the compxs from the Che who were tortured by the comite Cerezo, of the cumbia ballerina, and of Tripa, Amélie and Carlos. Let’s stay strong, regardless of the distance!

I feel a little weird writing a letter without any specific destination, I have the feeling that I’m writing to a galaxy that seems a little bit far away. I want to say one thing: I want to be clear that I am not writing this letter to retain support or to portray myself as the victim. My intention is to use the pen and paper to communicate with friends, and to share analysis.

I think that the situation of being imprisoned is a very special opportunity to get away from the ‘fetichisation’ of prison and to make it a reality in a contextual manner. Today, I am writing this letter from Santa Marta, but who knows what is next.

When we were arrested, January 5th 2014, to me, it was a bit of a joke, with the 7 cop cars blocking the street, it felt a bit like a scene from a play, and from this moment onwards, this feeling never left. Everybody has their role. I remember this moment, at 2 or 3 in the morning, when we were transported from the PGJ to the scientific centre for tests. We were three, in 3 different cars, with 2 cops on either side of us, and with a minimum of 10 cop cars with their lights flashing in the deserted streets of DF, and with the scientists who were still almost asleep when we arrived at the Centre. It was such a show; CSI Miami in Mexico.

And the Arraigo Centre, ouf!
This was the most theatrical thing I’ve lived through in my whole life. When we got there, the street had been closed off for our arrival. The men with their soap-opera muscles and machine guns were outside in the street, as well as inside the car with us. I couldn’t stop laughing—laughing at their authority that I don’t even have the smallest amount of respect for, laughing at the way they take themselves so seriously. “Ken and Barbie” with federal police uniforms. And the prisoners, who don’t have names but instead have the good luck of having a colour. Mine was orange. The worst was that the girls in my cell were taking on the roles of submission, of fear, and of authority between each other, so seriously, as if they were in an audition for a Hollywood movie.

Sorry to the people who think that I’m making everything seem absurd, but, this is the way it is! A joke, the playing of a role.

And here, in Santa Marta, there are many neighbourhoods from A to H, there is a ‘park’, apartments, and neighbours. There is a corner store, sex workers, drugs everywhere; there are people who reproduce the gender roles of ‘girls and boys’, and there are also tons of babies. There is a school, a doctor, a court. There are studies to classify us in Santa Marta, there is corruption, formal and informal power, schedules, and many emotions, many histories, lots of time to share together, rage, and definitely lots of cigarettes and coffee to share. If it isn’t already clear (here my spanish fails me a bit), but now, Santa Marta is my new city, ‘A’ is my new neighbourhood, 107 is my new apartment, and Amélie, my neighbour. For me, this is clearer than any theory.

And so, I end my letter.

A note:

First, I wrote this in spanish* because, it’s sometimes easier. So, I also want to give a big thanks to all those who do the translation, I will try to translate other letters into Français and English.

This is the first letter I’ve written in a long time because in the Arraigo centre it was very difficult; pens, like everything else, were prohibited!

For me, it was important to write this letter with a touch of humour and sarcasm, not because I want to minimise the impact that prisons can have on people, but to minimise the impact prison can have on me. What I tried to express, in simple spanish (I hope to one day master it) (I also hope it’s understandable), is that since my imprisonment, the elements that have had the most impact on me have been the game of roles and city-prison, prison-city. I won’t lie to you—it isn’t always easy, we are surrounded by barbed wire, but there is one thing I am certain of and it’s that freedom starts in our heads, regardless of where we find ourselves. In mine right now, there’s a lot of rage, a lot of force, and yes, despite everything, there is more freedom than ever.

Thanks to the friends who came to visit! To those who took our collect calls. To those who are organizing, despite the tensions. And to those who nurture the fire and who attack this rotten society RAGE AND ANARCHY!! (A)

And solidarity with Marc, the compxs from the Che, Tripa, the witch cumbia dancer, Amélie, and Carlos.

May 1st (Mayday) has annually been a day for celebration of worker struggles around the world. It commemorates the hanging of eight Chicago anarchists in 1886 for their role as leaders in the struggle for the eight hour work day.

At one time they were in a life and death struggle with the bosses and the government, modern day labour organizations are now often the polar opposite. Business unions work hand in hand with capitalism and jockey for positions in resource extraction projects like tar sands pipelines, and spectacles like the Olympics. Meanwhile working conditions degrade, as do conditions in the lives of workers. The land is poisoned locally, while climate change causes drought and catastrophe around the world.

Labour unions are not alone though, environmental organizations too are tied into the workings and logic of…